17 May 2024
Galvanising, plastics facilities proposed for Southland
Southland may soon get a galvanising plant, a plastics recycling, processing or manufacturing plant and a standalone electricity generation system, if a regional engineering industry group has its way.
At an event in Invercargill on Thursday, it was announced that the Southland Engineering and Manufacturing Cluster, which was established last year, had been renamed to Engage.
It would continue its focus on growing both sectors and look to provide pathways for Southland youth into the industry.
Cluster manager Brendan Gray said he was in talks with a business founder from Auckland that were “looking promising” for plastics processing, but no timeline had been set yet.
“There was enough interest out there” for a galvanising plant, he said, and the idea was in a due diligence phase.
Galvanising plant technology had come a long way – there were filtering systems and mitigation techniques for the fumes and extraction, and processes could be reverse engineered, Gray said.
The Southland cluster was supported by the Southland Business Chamber and came about as a by-product of the Just Transition and Beyond 2025 projects aimed at helping Southland transition to a more resilient economy following uncertainty about the future of the aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point near Bluff.
According to Gray, the engineering and manufacturing industries in Southland faced multiple challenges including staff retention and training, skills shortages, health and safety compliance, and a lack of uniform quality standards. They also needed help with exporting.
In his interviews with business owners, the staffing concerns they raised also included the number of people withdrawing from training courses because of financial hardship, staff difficulties with using public transport to get to work, the misrepresentation of women in trades, and a generational difference when it came to Generation Z’s working style.
To help address these challenges, Engage had proposed solutions including the galvanising plant and a plastics processing plant that would turn plastics into sustainable products.
Other ideas included local production of “containerised standalone power systems” for electricity generation, mobile internet and water treatment, an industry in dual hydrogen-diesel fuel vehicles for freight and passenger transport, and resource sharing among firms.
Scholarships for secondary school students to participate in SIT’s basic mechanical engineering trade skills course had also been proposed.
HunterNet chief executive Ivan Waterfield, a guest speaker at the event, said Engage would need to be honest in its discussions with its stakeholders.
“If you were seen as disingenuous, people would sniff it out.”
There would be some “kicking and screaming” at times as some of the members would be competitors, but they would have to work together, he said.
HunterNet was an Australian multi-industry cluster in Newcastle, New South Wales, that helped its members through networking and events, opportunity building, consulting and export advice.
Waterfield said in order to create a new industry, companies needed to think about their future and diversify.
Source: Stuff.co.nz – May 17 2024